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Jacob
Kavunkal, SVD Jacob Kavunkal SVD, head of the Department of Systematic Theology and Indian Religions, JVD, and teaching Missiology, examines the Church's mission in the context of the presence of the mystery of the Word in the World. In spite of its presence in creation, the became Incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth to manifest God fully in human history. This is the mission that he has bequeathed to the community of his disciples. Hence the Church’s mission today is to be the mistery of God’s presence on earth, manifested mainly through a dialogue with the cultures and religions and the poor of our times, upholding human rights and improving the quality of human history. ________________________________ The first thing that we come find in the gospels is that Jesus is not working to change God's attitude to people or to win back divine friendship; rather he tries to change people's attitude to each other and to God. In fact some of the parables like that of the vineyard (Mk 12:1-12) clearly state that the passion and death of Jesus was due to the unbelief of the people, though by raising him God made him the cornerstone of the Kingdom. For Jesus the main issue was that religious faith was permeated by fear due to ignorance and suffered from a sense of distance from the divine. In this context he calls for repentance. He asks for a change of mind or attitude. "It is about changing (converting) people's thoughts and images about God and how they see themselves in relationship with God," observes Michael Morwood.2 Hence we have to make a transition from the Paschal Mystery to the Ministry of the Lord: one could say that the "stone rejected by the builders" has become the "corner stone" of our Missiology. Through his ministry, according to the Gospels, Jesus is busy in the realization of the divine reign. In the following pages we shall say that in the context of the presence of the Word in the world, the Church's mission is primarily to witness to the Incarnate Word and his mission and thus realize the divine reign for India. This calls for the conversion of our Church to the cultures and religious traditions of India as well as to the poor. A New Relationship The Word Incarnate, through his ministry, not only manifests God's nature as love and compassion, but also shows in what way this God relates to the world. In Jesus of Nazareth people come into a new contact with God. God enters into their lives in a new way which in turn changes their world view and their lives. Whether it is Zachaeus the tax collector or the woman caught in adultery, the woman healed of the flow of blood or Jairus whose daughter was restored to life, the blind man at Jericho or the Gerasene demoniac, the paralytic at Capernaum or the lepers in Galilee, the man with the withered hand or the Syrophoenician woman, the blind, or the lame, or those who were fed, and so many others, all experience God coming into their lives through the action of Jesus. They have a new relationship with God. Jesus called it ‘faith'. God as manifested through Jesus is not so much concerned about God's own self, as about the "others," God's creation, the humans, and specially "the little ones." God's presence effects a change in the attitude of the people so that they "glorify God" and are good to others just as the good God makes the rain to fall on all. This relating of God to the world and the people must be continued through the ministry of the Church. Hence mission has much to do with the way the Church relates to the world, to peoples, their cultures and religions. The Church's relation to these must reveal Jesus' concern, respect and commitment. The Church becomes then the sacrament of God's relating to the world. Through its ministry the Church points to God and God's interaction with people as manifested in the Word Incarnate. He was the revelation of God's plan for the world, the divine reign. This is what ultimately the Church has to become, Emmanuel, God with us, for Matthew 1:23 cannot be divorced from Matthew 28:20. The ministry of the Word Incarnate is confirmed by God by raising him from the dead and establishing him Lord of all creation. Hence he sends his Church to continue that presence and that ministry. The Church and Indian Culture If the Word is present in every reality of the world, it is obvious that all the cultures of the world are also dwelling places of the Word. Every culture, then, has to be approached as a temple, with respect and love. For the Church it would be a sin against the Word and the Spirit to consider any culture as foreign or unworthy of being a home. Culture is the vital space within which the human person encounters God (EA, n. 21). It is the "language" through which God has been speaking to peoples. Culture includes such factors as a people's world view, history, experiences, values, hopes, aspirations, anxieties, etc. Culture is the "home" which a particular human group makes for itself out the raw materials of nature, thus providing for its identity and rootedness. Though it is human made, culture shares in the absolute and irreducible character of human beings created in the image of God, who can blossom only within a culture. The primary implication for the Indian church is that it must love and respect the cultures of India and make them its own. This involves a process of discovering or unveiling the Word present in the Indian cultures even as St Paul unveiled the Word present in the Areopagus culture (Acts 17:22f). Though we cannot speak of a conscious inculturation of Jesus of Nazareth in the Jewish culture, because as a human being his culture was natural to him, in the mystery of the Incarnation the Word does make the Jewish culture its own, over and above his creative indwelling in all cultures. The Word became a perfect Jew. At the same time, as Word Incarnate he transformed Jewish culture by being counter cultural to whatever was dehumanizing, i.e., whatever was inconsistent with his relation to God as "Abba." This was the heart of what he called the Kingdom of God. The "Abba experience," or the Kingdom, and inculturation are interrelated. This incarnational mystery is the model of inculturation for every community of his disciples. As the human Jesus was a Jew, the community's natural identity is its own culture. The community's faith in Jesus assumes a specific expression in its own culture, which will obviously be different from the expressions of the same faith in other cultures; different in life style, worship, theology, structures, mission, etc., because they are moulded by this community's world view, history, values, experiences, hopes, aspirations, anxieties, sufferings, and so on. At the same time faith makes its presence to be counter cultural of all those factors that are dehumanizing in its specific culture. The growth of a Church in a particular culture is inculturation, and the result is the coming into being of a local church. Since the earliest Christian community in India began already during the apostolic times, its identity was imbedded in the Indian culture before it came into contact with the sister churches from outside India, first the Syrian Christians of Mesopotamia and then the Latin Christians from the West. The former imported the Syrian form of worship while the later Latinized its liturgy and banned the use of many aspects of social life. As far as the Latin church in India is concerned, it emerged from a flawless transportation of the Western church, consistent with the theology and outlook of the colonial times. Though insightful persons like Robert de Nobili, John de Britto, Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, Swami Abhishiktananda and many others have tried to mould the Indian identity of this church, a powerfully centralized control has made their attempts ineffectual. An urgent need of our time is to carry forward the work of these pioneers to its logical conclusion. The result of centuries of unchallenged Eurocentrism makes it difficult for the Indian church to enter into dialogue with the composite culture of India. Vatican II opened up avenues for genuine theological discernment among differing theological positions. This must encourage the Indian church to go through what may be called a process of "exculturation", i.e., a death to the imposed identity. Initiatives need to be spelt out to create forms and structures responding to the genuine needs of India. In this the Greek ‘inculturation' of the early Church can serve as a model, not the mould. Like for Jesus of Nazareth, the secular identity of the Church need not in any way differ from that of our fellow citizens. But Jesus of Nazareth called his fellow Jews to a conversion and transformation as a result of an authentic relationship to God. This call has continue through the community of his disciples in India. The spelling out of this call for .today is its mission. Relating to Other Religions One of the striking features of creation is the pluralism found in it. An example is the mind boggling variety of life that fills the earth. In so far as the whole creation is the work of God through the Word who enlightens everyone coming into the world (Jn 1:1 4.9), every religion too is permeated by the Word. Religious pluralism is an enrichment and a source of creative catholicity. The Gospels do not present Jesus as a representative of any particular religion. His passion was God's reign. True, he did form a community and commissioned it to continue his mission of witnessing to the good news. Eventually this community became a new religion. This transformation from the "way of the Nazarene" to the Christian religion should not lead to the conclusion that the Church's mission is to displace other religions. Rather, it is to relate to all religions. Vatican II opened a new chapter in mission when it exhorted Christians to "acknowledge, preserve and promote the values of other religions" (NA 2) and also to enter into dialogue with their followers. This attitude of openness was already apparent in 1964 during the historic visit of Paul VI to India. Quoting the famous Upanishadic prayer, "Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality" (Br.Up.l.3.28), the Pope called India a "land of ancient culture, the cradle of great religions, the home of a nation that has sought God with relentless desire in deep meditation and silence and hymns of fervent prayer." He exhorted all to meet as "pilgrims who set out to find God not in buildings of stone but in human hearts. Person must meet person, nation must meet nation, as brothers and sisters, as children of God".3 In many addresses Pope John Paul II has laid the foundations for the Indian Church's mission in the context of religious pluralism. In his very opening address during his 10 day visit in 1986, replying to the Indian President's welcome, the Pope said that he wanted "to meet as many of the beloved Indian people as possible, and come to a deeper understanding of the rich cultures of your country. I pray that my visit will serve and support the good of your nation and the well being of all the Indian people". Further he said, "I take this occasion to express my sincere interest in all the religions of India — an interest marked by genuine respect, by attention to whatever we have in common, by a desire to promote inter religious dialogue and fruitful collaboration between people of all different faiths".4 John Paul II qualified his presence in India as "a pilgrimage of good will and peace" and recognized "with Mahatma Gandhi the dignity, equality and fraternal solidarity of all human beings" which "prompts us to reject every form of discrimination".5 Addressing the Catholics at the Indira Gandhi stadium on 2 February, 1986, the Pope reminds them how God is present in every person and in every culture as all are created in God's image.6 Continuing the same spirit he told the Bishops of India: "Another matter that occupies your zeal is inter religious dialogue. This too is a serious part of your apostolic ministry. The Lord calls you especially in the particular circumstances in which you are placed, to do everything possible to promote this dialogue according to the commitment of the Church”.7 Each Christian personifies the loving Church of Christ that wants to be open to the world, in order to listen and to offer friendship and service. The bishops particularly have the duty of "expressing the Church's respect and esteem for all your brethren and for the spiritual, moral and cultural values enshrined in their different religious traditions”.8 While addressing the religious, political and cultural leaders of India the Pope acknowledged how India has so much to offer to the world in the task of understanding the truth of existence. He said that India offers "a noble vision of man, ... a pilgrim of the Absolute, traveling towards a goal, seeking the face of God”.9 According to the Pope, the Indian motto, "Satyam eva jayate" (Truth alone triumphs), refers to "the truth about God and the truth about man" which commits us to "a whole programme of worldwide commitment and collaboration”.10 Not only Christianity has a mission to India but India too has a mission to the whole world: "India's greatest contribution to the world can be to offer it a spiritual vision of man”.11 John Paul reasserted similar thoughts while addressing the leaders of other religions at Chennai and Kolkata. At Chennai he said how he was longing to visit India, the land of many religions, and was looking forward to the spiritual fellowship that was arranged there. He went on to say that there was the possibility of true dialogue as the Catholic Church recognized the truth contained in the religious traditions of India.12 On his return to the Vatican, during the public audience on February 12, 1986 the Pope recalled fondly the dialogue he had with the various leaders in India and described his pilgrimage to India as linked to the Church's institutional dialogue with the religions professed by the majority of Indians. He concluded by saying, "The pilgrimage in India was, therefore, among other things a providential occasion for continuing dialogue with all who believe in God and seek to orient their lives from the perspective of a transcendental reality. The quest of the Absolute and the yearning for peace are very evident in the spirituality of the various religions present in India”.13 The Pope continued the same line of teaching on his return to India in 1998. The very symbolic gesture of the Pope at Vigyan Bhavan when he joined hands with the Sankaracharya Madhavananda Saraswati and raised them together to the loud applause of the audience indicates the course that the Indian Church has to follow, one of dialogue and collaboration. His message was simply one of God's love, with the counsel to refrain from the paths of isolation, division and conflict: "I come among you," said John Paul, "as a pilgrim of peace and fellow traveller on the road that leads to the complete fulfillment of the deepest human longings”.14 Having asserted that the meeting at Vigyan Bhavan was a message to the world of the things that unite all religions, viz., the common origin and destiny, and the shared responsibility for people's well being and progress, the Pope assured the participants: "My presence here among you is meant as a further sign that the Catholic Church wants to enter ever more deeply into dialogue with the religions of the world. She sees this dialogue as an act of love which has its roots in God himself ”.15 John Paul II insisted that the challenges now facing society can only be met by building a civilization of love, founded on the universal values of peace, solidarity, justice and liberty. "And how can we do this," he asked, "except through encounter, mutual understanding and cooperation?".16 Having insisted on the need to discern and welcome whatever is good and holy in one another, he concluded: "To choose tolerance, dialogue and cooperation as the path into the future is to preserve what is most precious in the great religious heritage of humankind".17 The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India too from its early history had been promulgating dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions. It established a Dialogue Commission and dialogue centres already in 1966. In 1976 the Commission published Guidelines for Dialogue which were revised in 1989. The Guidelines declare that the plurality of religions is a consequence of the richness of creation itself and of the manifold grace of God. Though all coming from the same source, peoples have perceived the universe and articulated their awareness of the Divine Mystery in manifold ways, and God has surely been present in these historical undertakings of God's children." It goes on to say that interreligious dialogue will be able to lead us into the mysteries of the divine human dialogue as it takes place in different religions. While intolerance, especially in the garb of religion, has become a way of life for many, the Christian mission should dissociate itself from any religious myopia. We have to acknowledge at all platforms the universalistic realism that pervades the Bible and is upheld by the recent magisterium. The mission of interreligious dialogue "is not simply a strategy for peaceful coexistence among peoples; it is an essential part of the Church's mission because it has its origin in the Father's loving dialogue of salvation with humanity through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit" (EA, n. 29). Evangelization in Asia has to be from "the framework of complementarity and harmony" (EA, n. 6). Hence the Church in India will have to do everything possible not only to promote interreligious dialogue but also to assure the different religions of India that the mission of the Church is not targeted against them. The Kingdom Perspective We saw how the mission of the Incarnate Word had God's reign as its foundation. It was a prophetic transformation of the culture of his time. He brought a new meaning and a new approach to the Law, sometimes evolutionary (Mt 5:17), sometimes revolutionary (Mt 18:22). In all he showed how God was not primarily concerned about God's own self, but about God's creation and the humans in it. Humans are not for the Law but the law is for humans (Lk 6:1 11). All through his ministry we see Jesus trying to integrate those whom Jewish society had marginalized in one way or the other. He worked for these "little ones," the lower classes, the poor, the uneducated, the farm workers hired out for the day, those known as sinners, those ignorant of the law, the harassed people who were like sheep without shepherd, those carrying heavy burdens, the tax collectors, the sick, the maimed, the blind, the lepers, the possessed, those bound by the powers that be, etc. All these belonged to the lower rungs of society due to one or other criteria that culture had imposed. Restoring justice to them was Jesus' concern and this he proclaimed as the divine reign. The presence of the Word in the world calls the Church to insert itself in the world for service to human history. It has to address the whole world with its transforming commitment. It must take human history positively. History is the anticipation of "God's future". In the context of the vandalism against the human person, whether it be in the form of social ostracism of the dalits, the disenfranchisement of the poor, the dispossession of tribal lands, the discrimination against women, the brutal annihilation of female life in the womb or later, the marginalization and exploitation of children, etc. — in all these areas, the defense of human rights and dignity is the task that the Church is urgently called to be engaged in. The "new way of being Church" (Gutiérrez) is, above all, solidarity with those whose human rights are violated or threatened. Hence it has to foster the empowerment of the poor and hear their cry for participation and acknowledgement as persons. The mission of the Church is not purely an ecclesial or even a theological question, but as importantly an anthropological one. It can be described as a Christological issue in the sense the Church's concern is how to make the love of God manifested and experienced in Jesus Christ meaningful to the oppressed. It is also an ecclesiological issue in the sense the community has to be the sacrament of this love. Christianity is not an alternative to the world. It exists to be at the service of this world and to transform it. It is not by despising the world but by loving it through its birth pangs of the hereafter, experienced already now, that the Church fulfils its mission. Like all others, Christians have to take the world and its problems as the primary area of their service. The Council emphasized the challenge of Christian presence in the world. Lumen Gentium, n. 31 speaks of the secular character of the people of God and its vocation to seek the Kingdom by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will. By their life in the midst of the world, through its social and political institutions, Christians proclaim the goodness of the Kingdom. The CBCI in its General Body Meeting at Goa in 1986 called upon Catholics to involve themselves actively in the field of politics and so play their part in influencing the destinies of the people.19 In the horrible anti Kingdom reality made evident by untold suffering and unnecessary death, the role of committed Christian action for legislative and structural changes to usher in an egalitarian society cannot be exaggerated. In the midst of repression and exploitation, compounded by a mindless communal frenzy let loose by criminals who polarize religions to hang on to power, the prayer "Thy Kingdom come" becomes the cry of India's heart. The prayer is a challenge to engage in political activity so that the political arena be guided by the values of love, justice and peace. Without any triumphalism Christians have to retrieve the vocation of the early Christians to be the soul of the world. The early tradition of a Church as the voice of the voiceless and the conscience of society needs to be retrieved. This is another way of obeying the Gospel command to be "the salt" of the earth. To refuse to be involved in political transformation is a denial of Christian identity, as the Asian bishops have said.20 Christian indifferentism contributes to the unchecked growth of injustice and corruption in political life. Christians must wholeheartedly collaborate with any movement that has justice and the good of the poor as its aim. Any political party that aims at the well being of the nation and of all its citizens without any discrimination merits Christian participation. Such participation and commitment to justice can influence party politics in some way or other. This is the heart of the conversion or transformation that Christians seek. Even as it was instrumental in the reform movement within Hinduism in the 19th century, so today too the Christian community can bring about change in Indian society towards a casteless and pro-poor politics, by promoting it both in its own life and outside. Christian centres of higher education can play a significant role not only by education, but also by guiding and moulding public opinion in favour of the marginalized and the underprivileged through information and analysis. For instance at the time of the budget making Christian Institutes of Management and Administration can come to the aid of the poor and influence the policy makers through informed and competent discussions. Unfortunately this has been an area ignored by many of our prestigious centres. The focus of Christian politics is not minority rights or the interests of the Christian institutions but the basic human rights and the transformation of society into a just and humane one. This obviously can be done only in collaboration with others. What hampers life for the millions in India is not their forgetfulness of God but rather the fact that they are willfully kept in life denying situations by decision makers and powerful people. This can happen even in ecclesial life. Hence there is pressing need to transform and humanize the many structures so that all can fully participate in life. Such a transformation is in effect a conversion, a conversion to justice and to those who are denied of justice. It is a conversion that bears the imprint of the self emptying love of Christ. Through a life of professional excellence, objectivity and integrity Christians can render an effective role in civil society. Similarly they can in the political field offer examples of integrity and dedication to public welfare. A rejection of the value of the political field and of involvement in it is a refusal to acknowledge the presence of the Word in this area. The Council reminds us that the Word and his Spirit are present in the secular realities as they manifest humanity's legitimate desires and aspirations and its struggle for justice and human dignity (GS, n. 26). Elsewhere in the same document we are told how the mission requires an in depth discernment of all the social, political, economic, cultural, and religious signs of the times in today's world (GS 4). John Paul II has linked this presence of the Word in the world to whatever is human. "Man is the primary route that the Church must travel in fulfilling her mission: he is the primary way for the Church, a way that, in a sense, is the basis of all the other ways that the Church must walk" (RH, n. 14). Human rights and the dignity of the human person, human progress, fullness of life for the human family, are objectives of our service. The human reality that we encounter in India and the divine love that we have experienced in Jesus Christ are the two points of reference for the Christian service in India. The pre existent Word is operative in the whole world and hence in all religions, and became incarnate in Jesus Christ to bring wholeness to all human beings. Perhaps it is more meaningful to say that our mission meets the deeper human aspirations than that other religions are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Symbol of the Divine Love Jesus was the symbol embodying God's love and God's reign. He made the reality of God visible and tangible for us humans. In his life and ministry God became present to us. By raising him from the dead God affirms his ministry and tells us that we too will participate in that fullness of life, his destiny, if we live his life style. Irrespective of the negligible percentage of Christians in India, the Christian community has to become a tangible and visible sign of the divine reign and divine love and manifest God's plan for a true human community. Hence the Christian community has to be conformed to Jesus Christ, being transparent to the will of God. Mission is above all the Christian praxis of discipleship rather than an enterprise. What is to be emphasized is that Jesus Christ is the one whom we follow rather than the end of our pilgrimage, which of course is God whom Jesus reveals. The salvation brought about through his incarnation is the way in which the Son of God went about in this world and it is this very same way of living that is bequeathed to the community of his disciples. The self emptying and the poverty of the Lord who had nowhere to lay his head must be the hallmark of the Church in India. For this it will have to become a "Church inside out," i.e., its centre of gravity will not be its own well being and growth, but the world and its well being. The Church's identity will only be for the sake of the world. Naturally, for the sake of the world and to continue the mission of the Word Incarnate, the community has to be there. Hence it will always be open to new members who want to join it. But membership is always for the sake of service. The Church knows itself to be in a pluralistic world and has no other ambition than "to serve human beings by manifesting the love of God made present in Jesus Christ" (RM, n. 2). The Church points to God and God's interaction with people as manifested in Jesus Christ. As Jesus Christ brought about a new relationship with God in the lives of the persons with whom he interacted in his ministry, so the Church must become an instrument of the divine presence to the people of today. This relationship leads towards reconciliation and harmony in the midst of plurality. It springs from God's relation to creation, participates in the Son's relation to history and is continued as a service through the Spirit. While speaking about relations we have to insist that all human beings, male and female, are created in God's image and God dwells in them without discrimination. Hence the Church has an urgent task to disown gender discrimination in any form and anywhere including its own life. Another important aspect is our relation to the earth, our home. We should develop a sense of kinship with the earth. When human greed is exploiting nature with the sole motive of profit and leads the world towards an ecological disaster the Church has to raise its voice with sisterly concern. The Christian community must be unreservedly committed to the protection of the environment and collaborate with the redemptive Word present in Mother Earth. Thus we must rediscover the whole creation as God's handiwork and preserve its integrity. Because there is an intimate relation between theology and culture, our theology must keep pace with the scientific progress and the knowledge of the universe. For the most part, our theology developed in a solar centred, or may be even in an earth centred, view of the universe. Modern scientific knowledge has brought us to the awesome awareness of the existence not only of our own galaxy with more than 200 billion stars, the ‘Milky Way' within a cluster of 30 galaxies, but of the existence of an estimated three hundred billion galaxies, each with billions and billions of stars. Our knowledge of this universe is still in the infancy stage. Further, science tells us the universe is expanding limitlessly.21 This opens up the possibility of the existence of any number of earths, with living beings including rational creatures. The existing theological notions and systems may be inadequate. We may add that through Incarnation that divine presence becomes personal and this has to be continued through the ministry of the Church. Conclusion The deepening of our faith in the presence of the Word in the whole creation, demands that our missionary vision become as all encompassing as God's own vision. God's protective and caring love cannot be restricted to any group or area. In the light of the biblical realism, we must see the universe anchored in the limitless love as well as the all embracing plan of God who does not deny any of God's works, particularly when that God's image is imprinted on the face of Jesus Christ. The Church's mission is only to continue what happened in his ministry. Jesus Christ is not a notion to be discussed or a dogma to be imposed but a person to be followed, a mystery to be lived.
Notes 1 E.P.
Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, Allen Lane: The
Penguin Press, 1993, p. 1.
Ref.: Ref.: Vidyajyoti (Journal of Theological Reflection), Vol. 66, n. 11 (November 2002), pp. 901-913.
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